Lover's Lane
by Sizzia
Summary: Nothing bad happens in Mystic Falls? Right? Both Elena's and Damon's world turns upside down while hunting down a serial killer that seem hellbent on ruining their lives. Will they be able to solve the crime before more innocent lives are taken and how will it affect them and their relationship? AU


"Coffee?"

Damon smirked, not looking up from his desk, to invested at staring at the bright screen in front of him. He didn't need to since he knows that familiar sultry voice and the sweet strawberry scent that enveloped him.

"Why thank you, miss little-coffee-junkie." He got hit playfully on the shoulder and heard the hearty scoff while a mug with steaming hot coffee was placed next to his computer mouse.

"Don't be an ass so early in the morning, Mr. Salvatore. I can't take a headache today." Still not looking up, he still listened as she slumped down in the chair besides him, letting out a heavy sigh.

"Sorry, I don't do half-time." He winked his one eyebrow and finally gazed at the brunette sitting next to him. _Always so neat_, he thought. Nice black suit with a white top underneath if he is not mistaking with a high ponytail. Elena Gilbert was staring at him hard with those usually calm, soft brown doe eyes. His so-called-ass-behavior never suited well with her grumpy morning routine. Which is why it was so much more fun to poke at it. It never got boring to push her buttons. In fact ever since she got promoted from a normal cop to an investigator and signed to be his partner in the homicide district he probably was more an ass then now. It had been three months since they have been paired and well...let's just say that _"nothing bad ever happens in Mystic falls"_ quote on quote from the petite brunette sitting next to him, is a myth.

They recently solved their last murder from a bank-robbery, and was now just managing paperwork and other bureaucratic shit to pass the time. And of course, getting coffee. Every morning when they worked together, she always brought him coffee. Sadly, he became quickly addicted to it now, as his brain could be splattered against the wall for all the druggy nonsense he was thinking before he had the cure he insistently never wanted to drink before. The little minx devoured him for good. _But worth it,_ he grinned to himself as he sipped the black liquid from the mug.

She has been very polite to him, and been in awe to be paired with him as he was one of the more prestigious, successful investigators there was in Mystic falls with the least unsolved cases. The only unsolved case he had that was still nagging at him happened around six months ago. A woman brutally murdered that they never found who committed it, the only thing they had a lead on was the initials carved in her skin at the crook of her neck, T.R...which meant nothing – so far. He didn't want to think much about it.

In any case, he actually liked Elena as a partner. Normally he works alone, and in the beginning he had been very headstrong in the determination to still be working alone, but his boss and friend had just simply responded, "_it will do you good to have a fresh second pair of eyes on things."_

But she had impressed him with the detail of her work, the determination when she scanned crime scenes and interrogations. She was tougher then anyone could see by the eye. And she didn't let him affect her in any way, and their playful banter was just part of the game.

He was thankful and surprised by it. He got enough attention from women elsewhere and didn't need useless drama come to his work place either. Honestly though, if she hadn't worked with him, and he met her somewhere in a bar, he would have seduced her in a heartbeat. She was very beautiful, only a blind idiot would not be able to see it. And she had wit, charisma and strength. Which sometimes made it uncomfortable to him to concentrate when she was biting her lip in a most innocent way or have her bad habit of rolling a lock of curl with her finger, sighing softly while reading through clues or interrogations. He handled it though, it was just a minor attraction which was not wrong at all.

"What's with the look, Gilbert?" He asked, as she was still staring at him like she was deciphering a great mystery.

"Just wondering how tiring it must be to be you." She said with a fake smile, tilting her head.

"Ouch!" He mocked, as he heartedly placed his hand above his chest.

"You are such a ray of sunshine in the mornings," He smirked. When she was going to respond another voice called across the room:

"Salvatore, Gilbert. The chief is assembling a meeting." Kol yelled from the far side of the room. Kol was one of the asstards Damon could really be without. His australian like accent that felt like someone was rubbing sandpaper in his ear, and just the way he was drove him nuts. It might have to do with the fact that he and Elena dated when she first came to the homicide squad as well. Even when it only lasted a month, and both of them refused to talk about it.

Elena sighed and stood up, waiting for him as he fixed some papers neatly and closed his programs on the computer before joining her to walk in the meeting room.

They joined the rest of the homicide squad and sat down at the table closest to the desk where Alaric Saltzman was standing before the big whiteboard. Alaric was Damon's closest friend. Besides Elena, he was the only that could put up with him more then five minutes in the same room without wanting to smash his face against something hard. Damon was quite anti social, well that's not true. He just didn't like talking to people when there was not purpose to it. Seducing women for one night was worth it, and so was his brother (sadly), Elena and Alaric.

"Alright." Alaric started with a heavy voice, "there has been another murders matching the MO of the Summers case. This one is in the cemetery." murmurs passed through the room and Damon tensed. Elena had not been with him at the time of the Summers case, ergo she didn't know much details and how bad that case went with almost no clues.

"Salvatore, Gilbert. I want you two to head to the crime scene and see what you can figure out."

"Why him? He didn't solve the Summers case." Kol suddenly spoke up.

"And how many cases have you solved, Mikaelson?" Damon quipped irritably, "one, two? I heard the owner of the lost puppy was not happy when you could not even locate her dog."

People tried to hold back their laughter and he could see how Kol narrowed his eyes at him, while he just smirked back with a taunting grin.

"What are you? Five?" Alaric interrupted and all went quiet. He directed his eyes to Damon again, "Fill Elena in on the details, and go to the crime scene." He dismissed them, and Elena followed Damon as they walked to his car.

"Sooo? I only know from what I heard from the news."

"Which is nothing." Damon grumbled, as he opened the door to his car and got in. She sat down next to him.

"So are you going to tell me or do I have to find out the hard way?"

"Tell you what, princess. If I'm in a good mood, I might tell you but I think it's best if you see it for yourself."

Elena rose one eyebrow and resigned to look out the window as Damon rolled the car out on the road heading to the cemetery.

"Who would murder someone in a cemetery?" She asked quietly, and Damon rose his eyebrow at her. Knowing this was a sensitive subject since Elena's parents were buried at the same cemetery. He knew everything about her. He wanted to know what kind of person he would work with and had investigated her. Though when Alaric found out, he had been yelled to kingdom come. Even Elena didn't know everything he knew about her, which might be unfair as she barely knew him. She only knew his brother Stefan who had been attempting to get her out on a date since the first time he saw her when he visited Damon for lunch.

Poor baby bro didn't stand a chance as she politely declined over and over again, making Damon grin with glee.

"If you want me to go by myself, it's fine." He said, and she looked at him with a small smile, shaking her head.

"It's okay, Damon. But thank you." He just nodded his head, feeling her stare becoming a bit to intense.

He drove in silent as he turned a corner up a hill to the cemetery. There were two police cars and reporters standing there already. Damon cursed under his breath, not wanting to deal with idiotic journalists now. He parked the car, and both him and Elena got out. He took her arm to drag them both quickly, not answering the questions that kept spewing from the reporters.

They walked to the yellow rope circling the crime scene and stepped inside.

"Salvatore, homicide." Damon spoke up to the coroner that was hiding the body from view.

"Hey, Damon." The bald man said back, standing back up.

He heard Elena gasp from behind him, and looked at her. Her eyes were wide open as she saw the dead woman lying on the ground. Her face drained of all color. She had seen dead bodies before but this was beyond a simple murder. This was cold, inhuman and calculated murder. And not enough with it. He saw the tombstone behind the victim's head that was splattered with blood and he realized one of the reasons why she was upset.

Miranda and Grayson Gilbert...He felt a twinge at his heart, and didn't dare to look at Elena. What are the odds the murderer killed or moved the body to her parent's tombstone?

"This fits the MO of the Summers case. Same carvings in the neck, but he wrote something else now to." The coroner, Jack Anderson disrupted him from his inner musings and gestured for Damon to look at the body, and then he saw her.

A woman, mid twenties and brunette from the look of it. Naked, battered and wounds all over her body. And the big writing carved in her skin on her stomach, with dried blood around it.

"7D?" He asked curiously, "what the hell is that supposed to mean?" He asked the coroner, who took of his small round glasses and wiped them on his black coat, "we don't know yet."

"Time of death?" Damon asked as he took out his notebook to scribble down notes, "if I have to guess before the autopsy, I would say shortly after midnight." Damon crouched down next to the body, seeing the heavy head trauma and bruised eye and the coagulated blood covering half the woman's face, "this is the cause of death?"

"No, but it might look like it. By the trauma and bruises, the victim was alive when it happened. It probably knocked her unconscious or it was the impact against the tombstone. The cause of death is the same like Summers. Strangulation. But the bruise marks aren't as heavy which indicate she wasn't fighting her attacker." At this, Damon looked at her throat seeing the bruised marks. He looked at her hands, the nails were still intact and no dirt on them, "she didn't fight him, there is nothing under her fingernails."

"She was tied up," Damon muttered seeing a rope pattern on both the victim's wrists.

"Was she beaten and cut like this over her entire body before she died?" Elena's voice broke through.

"Most of them yes. We still need to run tests for DNA and semen, as there is blood on her thighs and anus, but I will give you a full report when its done."

"Thanks, doc." Damon mumbled, standing up again, looking down at the beaten corpse before him.

"She is missing a piece of jewelry as well. I thought you might want to know, her one earlobe has been completely torn apart, indicating that there was a earring."

"He wants a trophy. Like with the Summers case." The coroner nodded solemnly in confirmation.

"Maybe it's a she you know. Women are capable as well to do something like this." Elena said, finally stepping next to him, looking like a ghost but she was holding her composure.

"Can't exclude it." Jack said before walking away to prepare taking the body away.

Elena took out her camera and look some pictures of the woman. He noticed she was trembling and sighed, "I can do it."

"I'm fine. Just because someone defiled my parent's final resting place doesn't mean I can't work." She snapped harshly back, and Damon held up his hands in front of him in mock surrender not disturbing her further even if she was clearly upset.

Damon looked around the scene. He saw no blood traces anywhere else or the grass being disturbed in any way. Which meant that the murder probably took place elsewhere and the attacker took the victim here. He asked one of the cops to look for boot prints around the area to see if they could start off somewhere.

He tried visualize the attack. Was she still conscious here? There was no evidence of her struggling with the exception of the blood splatter on Elena's parents tombstone. Maybe she tried running, and the attacker knocked her against the tombstone.

There was nothing else on the site, no personal belongings or clothing so they had to wait for the DNA tests to come back to know who the woman was and to continue with the case.

He wondered about the motivation for the crime.

Jealousy? Anger? Lover's quarrel? Hate?

Damon pondered. Hate is a simple word with many connotations. It's one harsh syllable that bites the tongue as it rolls off with a nearly painfully malicious pleasure. But when does it turn in to when it reaches that deceivingly unreachable climax? To murder?

Does it overflow in to a ruthless desperation, or does it simply release what the red haze of pure loathing?

There was no motive. Yet. Was there a connection between this woman and the Summers case?

Elena was quiet on their way back to the station, and Damon was thinking about the murder. He didn't like this. He didn't want another unsolved case or wait for the next time this would happen. He was furious that because the former murder remained unsolved another girl has died. Pure anger overtook him as he pounded against the car wheel making Elena jump from her trance as well.

"What the hell?"

"Didn't mean to scare you, Gilbert." He muttered bitterly, his eyes fixated on the road ahead of them.

"Are you alright, Damon?" She asked after a few seconds with that sweet caring tone that melted away his anger like a wave.

With a smirk, "Why wouldn't I be? The only murder I didn't manage to solve is apparently a work of a wanna-be serial killer so I'm walking on sunshine at the moment."

"It's not your fault it happened." She answered softly after a few seconds. He wondered where her keen sense of understanding him came from. It always seemed she could read his mind like an open book.

"Isn't it?" He retorted.

"Never." She smiled back.

"Let's grab lunch already and go over the notes before heading back to the station."

"That is the best idea you had today."

"The day is still young, Elena. You never know what I might have hidden under my sleeve." Damon teased, daring to catch her brown eyes with his own, seeing her hold her breath as he did to his satisfaction.

"Do I even want to know?" She finally asked with mild irritation.

"Just go over the crime notes like a good little girl and we can talk more about this during lunch." Damon finished with a grin plastered on his lips.

**AN: This is a new story that came to mind. Damon and Elena are human(obv) and set in an alternate universe. Want me to continue? ;) I can happily say all the chapters are already done, and I will update once a week depending how much free time I will have, and if you guys like it :)**


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